Tuesday, December 29, 2009

I think the rapper Skinnyman did an excellent job showing a common council estate worldview in his tune "Council Estate of Mind" - check out his lyrics below:

Talkin' 'bout the science of social deprevationFrom 'ere to whereever in the council estates the mans is strugglin'.The poor lower working class.

Blud, you got to sleep round here and have nightmares,Wake up and find the worst reality is right there.The difference is, in my dream's I'm always runnin' scared,But in reality, on road, I'm comin' prepared.So now who's gonna wanna run up and become a gonner?Everybody's gonna wanna get us, but they're on a longers.I'm still out to get the same cats from last summer,But man can't see them again,It's like they've done a runner.I'm still in the same mannor, on the same numberAnd everybody knows where I'm at and what I'm under,I'm in the same slums, raisin' the funds.In the city where the yute man are blazin' the guns.Just look how this United Kingdom has come,Within the council estates where man'll fight over crumbs, We got young single parent mums,Havin' the hardest time tryn'a survive for their daughters and their sonsBe comin' out their yutes, cause their yutes are left out there,Raised on the ways of these streets without care.Now we're havin' our fair share of gun warefareAnd it's all gone nuts and that's just cause it's poor here.People want more here,We're all on the floor here,It's raw here, can't even sleep and ignore here,Cause life's kinda militant,Stuck in the grime,Nothin's equivillent to this council estate of mind.

We know that we have been living our lives through the hardest times,Still we know that we must keep up the faith in our hearts and minds.

I live amongst smashed syringes,Squatters' doors hangin' off the hinges,Hookers lookin' money for Bobby, shottin' their minges.Leavin' used condoms out on the staircases,Next to the broken pipes that's left by the Base Heads.Local estate heads, have grown up to hate Feds,Kids with no helmets drivin' round on some bait peds.Abandoned cars are at the bottom of the block,So when it's pissin' down,Kids have got a place to plot,To cotch and blaze pot,And watch this whole spot,Full up of lost souls with no goals who get left to rot.And what, I don't expect you to ever comprehend isWhy (Wottal?) Atkin's so self defensive.The neighbourhood shotters have all seen what it's comin' to.Find More lyrics at www.sweetslyrics.comLocal coppers on patrol are boppin' with a gun too.So anyone could bun you,Leave and desert you.How long they gonna mourn you when somebody mercs you?Tryin' not to get shift when shiftin' your work trueWhen you wanna shift there ain't nowhere to splurt to.The stakes are high, still the best get placed.Tryn'a find how sweet success might taste.In a place where everybody is tryin' to flex.Nobody's really gettin' anywhere,So everybody's vexed,Livin' life kinda militant,Stuck in the grime,Nothin's equivalent to this council estate of mind.

We know that we have been living our lives through the hardest times,Still we know that we must keep up the faith in our hearts and minds.

So these are lyrics for my people,Livin' on the streets who,Know they ain't got nuttin' else to retreat to.If you gettin' food next man'll wanna eat you,Pure, bad beefs just to get to delete you.So many man nowadays are so see-through,Beware of their deceitful ways when the greet you.Those who feel it know it because they've been through,Times when their friends wanna switch up to beat you.I never used to see it but,Now I got a clear view,Don't let no bad minded heads try get near you.If they're not on your level they'll never hear youAin't no time to be shaken or fearful.If you've been through, some of this evil that we do,A hundred Hail Mary's ain't enough to redeem you.All of my long time friends are crack fiends,Who have gone too far, but still say they didn't mean too.Does alleviation through base and crack relieve you?Everybody's losin' their mindAnd even me too.Step into my world if you wanna catch a preview,But don't tell a soul, cause they just won't believe you.The life's kinda militant,Stuck in the grime,Nothin's equivillent to this council estate of mind.Life's kinda militant,Stuck in the grime,Nothin's equivillent to this council estate of mind.

We know that we have been living our lives through the hardest times,Still we know that we must keep up the faith in our hearts and minds.We know that we have been living our lives through the hardest times,Still we know that we must keep up the faith in our hearts and minds.

Monday, December 28, 2009

John Calvin wrote the following a long time ago - if its too hard to understand, just skip down to my bit below!

“For, since we are all naturally prone to hypocrisy, any empty semblance of righteousness is quite enough to satisfy us instead of righteousness itself. And since nothing appears within us or around us that is not tainted with very great impurity, so long as we keep our mind within the confines of human pollution, anything which is in some small degree less defiled delights us as if it were most pure just as an eye, to which nothing but black had been previously presented, deems an object of a whitish, or even of a brownish hue, to be perfectly white.” Institutes book 1, chapter 1.2

When people look at posh areas they often think these places seem more righteous than Council Estates – but this thinking has problems:

1) Compared to the enormous size of God’s righteousness, the differences of crime and morals between a council estate and posh area are very small. The whole country is tainted with sin. The whole country looks disgustingly sinful compared to God’s righteousness. When humans look at a council estate they may think that place is so much more sinful than another area, but in reality, both areas are sinful outposts of rebellion against God.

2) Different standards and grids are used to judge the sins of council estates to those of other areas. For example, someone who gets drunk on a council estate is seen as “legless”, whereas someone who gets drunk at a dinner party is seen as “jolly”. Someone from an estate who smokes crack is called a “crackhead”, whereas a politician’s child who does lines of coke “likes to party”. Someone who goes to the bookies each day on an estate is a gambler (who could never be a church leader). Yet someone who works in the city in stocks and shares is a respectable white collar worker (who could easily be a church leader). Council Estates (where everyone knows everyone) are called broken down communities, whereas posh areas (where few people know their neighbours) are seen up respectable communities.

So, are posh areas really any better? Really the question should be, “Are posh areas good enough?” Do they glorify God? Does anywhere in England glorify God? Yes, the true church does, which is why we need churches in council estates and posh areas.

Wednesday, December 23, 2009

In the 19th Century, David Livingstone went to Africa was an explorer missionary. He said this,

"When white men preach... Africans just think we are talking about our odd European ways and customs. But when their own people tell them about Jesus, they see the truth."'Hero Tales' by Dave and Neta Jackson, p.59

The mission board didn't support Livingstone in raising up indigenous African teachers, so he had to do it himself.

It seems to me that today, there is a desperate need for indigenous council estate preaching in the UK (indigenous in the sense of born and raised on an estate). For me, I often hear British preaching and think, "he's just talking about his ways and customs." I long to hear more preaching from blokes on council estates about Jesus Christ, Lord of Council Estates, who speaks to our own culture.

About Me

I'm a husband and father of four. Church planting in a large London council estate (that's 'the projects' for US folks). Dealing with plenty of urban issues, as well as disability, trauma, abuse, grief, counselling, discipleship, and the Father Heart of God. I have a Doctor of Ministry degree from WTS where I focused on urban discipleship. Mainly I'm trying to learn to be more gospel-centered, and finding more and more that God and his glorious gospel is so much better than anything else in this world.